Visitor to the shop....

[Elm City Hobbies]

Personally I have the entire Model Color line as well as the Panzer Aces line. All the 60ml primers, the bulk of the washes, and most of the metallics in the Air line.

I held back on the air line, because the consensus at the time I got Vallejo was that you pay the same amount for a bottle pre-thinned as you do for a bottle of Model Color, which you can thin and get 3-4 times the amount of thinned paint for he same price as a bottle of Air. So...I haven't been all that quick to bring the air line in.

That being said...I am getting more and more requests for the Air line (plus I use it myself), so I will be getting it eventually, but probably not until late fall, hard to part with the $$$ in the summer when usually the business isn't there to support it.

I am not sure how much your LHS is charging for Vallejo Huntr, but whether you wait 2 weeks for him to get it, or 2 weeks for it to be delivered, you are still waiting. I haven't really seen Vallejo online for that much cheaper than what I sell it for, so to save that much, to cover the shipping, you have to buy quite a bit.

That being said, I would gladly sell to you, but I encourage you to put your faith in your LHS. If you get him to bring it in, and more people follow suit, he would be more inclined to bring in the whole line so his customers have direct access to it, as opposed to the local people buying it online. You can't expect him to shell out the cash to buy the lineup if his customers won't support him.

Just my 2 cents.

I know when I started buying Vallejo for myself (3-4yrs before I opened), I was buying it in Ottawa when I was there to visit friends. Only one shop had it, and they were charging a fortune for it. Now knowing what they cost...I realized that the price they were charging was pretty much highway robbery. So when I finally did open, and I chose Vallejo as the brand of paint I would carry, I priced it accordingly. Price per ml is about the same as most companies out there. Actually less when it comes right down to it, Tamiya runs about 25cents/ml, Testors about 25.5cents/ml. Vallejo runs about 20cents/ml, and is a far superior acrylic paint.

 

[huntr]

I guess I said that poorly.. sorry..

what I mean to say is.. I think Im at a place where Im willing to pay a little more on the shipping to get it in my hands faster

I suspect the price each will only vary by a few cents one way or the other but the shipping could be weeks faster if I pony up for it

anyway... I didnt mean to jack your thread and I thank you for the insight !

 

[panzerace007]

SCOTT,

Again, Fantastic !! Yeah, I don't get it either. I live in Richmond V.A. & Neither LHS' carry Vallejo. They Refuse to. One of MY AMPS chapter Buddies even placed a very large order with one of them. I mentioned to th MGR. that maybe That'll turn th head of the Owner , to consider carrying Vallejo ... ???? I think all They see is th Start Up fee . Which, I guess you can't blame them, but what I think would have been a stroke of Genius on Vallejo's part - When Tamiya had trouble supplying North America with Paint ... maybe Vallejo should have seen th opportunity & dropped Their initial start up fee a little , just to get th Paint in th Stores !

Incidentally My Friends order consisted of Every Single one of Vallejo's New Primer Colors + some other colors He needed to Re-Up on. After I talke d to My Buddy & Told him how awesome th Black Primer was & that Vallejo had come out with th New Colors ! It's Genius on Vallejo's part. Those colors double as th Base coats too. 1 shot - primed & painted in th base color. Now all you have left is to do a lil shading, etc !!

BTW- Does Vallejo have a dedicated U.S/North American distributor ? ( I don't mean Stevens, but like a Vallejo U.S.A. or Vallejo North America ? Might be worth checking into ? It seems to work for A.K. Interactive & for MIG productions ?)

Cheers to you for being able to work from Home !!! & a Very Cool brush with Celebrity .... Sounds like Elm City Hobbies should make a "Business Trip" over to Spain ?? Can't you write that off on your Taxes as a Business expense ?

*p.s. I have Their Black Primer & Love it, for th simple fact that it's ready to shoot straight from th Bottle to th A.B. !! My next colors are th Dunkel & Afrika Corps colors !!

Vallejo used to have an importer, but they went out of business about a year ago. I am not sure how influential they actually were, as both of my other suppliers also carried Vallejo, and the prices were about the same.

Personally, I wouldn't like to see a Vallejo USA, as from a dealer standpoint, right now I have the option of buying full boxes of paint (6 to a box) or individually. Where I don't currently carry the Air or Game lines in stock, if someone wants a specific color, it is nice to be able to order just one bottle for them, instead of having to buy a box of 6. I think with something like a Vallejo USA, for dealers anyway it would eliminate that.

As far as start up costs.....Vallejo is actually probably one of the cheaper ones out there. Doesn't mean it isn't expensive to get set up still. With Vallejo when you get the entire set up...you pay for one box (6 bottles) of each paint color on the rack, and they throw in the rack for free.

No one else does this, Testors, Tamiya, etc....you pay for the product, and they soak you with the cost of the rack as well, usually at a discounted rate vs buying the rack separately, but still....after dropping a pile of cash to purchase the product, I think the rack should be thrown in for free. In fact when I bought the Testors spray can rack, it was actually cheaper to purchase the rack separately and then purchase the paint separately, than it was to purchase it all as one unit, and quite a bit of a difference, like $200!!

Talking to Mike, he said that their sales have increased quite a bit in the last couple of years, and a part of that is people like me pushing the product every chance I get.

SO, having said that......................


BUY VALLEJO!!!!


BTW...I know Richmond, VA is a big place....but do you happen to know a Michael Spainhour? Just send a couple of Vallejo products down to him this morning. LOL Small world!!

SCOTT,

I see your point about a Vallejo U.S.A. or North America . That is unless you became th Distributor - Vallejo North America ? ;D It's cool that you could order as little as One bottle. Th Other LHS here in Richmond won't entertain th thought of ordering a bottle unless you can get together with some people & order a Box of 6 ! I don't know if that is what Stevens stipulates or if it's th LHS ?

Richmond isn't that big .. I mean once you start running into people it seems very Small , but to answer your question .. No I do not know Michael Spainhour. I attend both - AMPS meetings & I.P.M.S. & have not met him there. Hmmmm We also do Build days at th Local HobbyTown ( th one on West Broad st. ) th 3rd. Saturday of every Month & have not met him there ..... It'd be cool to catch up. I'll be on th look out for th name.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Stevens Intl' being a wholesaler only, they will only sell it by the box.

MMD/Squadron being both a wholesaler and retailer, I can get it from them by the bottle if need be. That being said, they don't carry everything either. Especially in the Testors lines.

 

[spud]

my lhs doent cary Vallejo so ill have to buy them online. ild like to walk into the shop and be able to look at other paints sick of seeing humbroll..

Scott what is the Differance with the panzer aces and the normal line? can you buy the panzer ones on there own?

oh and lucky sod having your store from home

 

[13aceofspades13]

thats pretty cool beans.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

my lhs doent cary Vallejo so ill have to buy them online. ild like to walk into the shop and be able to look at other paints sick of seeing humbroll..

Scott what is the Differance with the panzer aces and the normal line? can you buy the panzer ones on there own?

oh and lucky sod having your store from home

The Panzer Aces ones are the same consistency as the Model Color, just different colors. They started out as a limited edition paint in 8 packs, (48 colors total) exclusive to subscribers of the Panzer Aces magazine. People liked them so much that Vallejo put them out as a separate line. I have the whole line up here, and can be purchased by the bottle.

 

[MilitaryAircraft101]

I know they have sets, and I was looking at some good ones I might test out to replace my dear humbrols for some things, and seen the RAF/RN sets, is there a RAAF one? Or should I go with the WW2 allied set (think it's called that)? :-\

 

[spud]

sweet thanks for that scott

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

I know they have sets, and I was looking at some good ones I might test out to replace my dear humbrols for some things, and seen the RAF/RN sets, is there a RAAF one? Or should I go with the WW2 allied set (think it's called that)? :-\

Watch the price on the sets, as often times it is no cheaper to buy the set, than it is to buy the bottles individually.

In the air line they have an Extreme Tank Modeling set, German RLM set, and WWII Brit Aircraft RAF & FAA set. Haven't heard of an RAAF set....but I am sure some of the colors in the Brit set can be used for RAAF as well.

The sets do some with a nice pamphlet explaining the colors, different camo schemes, what colors were used where. Nice piece of reference material.

 

[MilitaryAircraft101]

Ok, reading your posts about model air and how it can be LOTS more expensive because you get less paint, mabye i'll scope out some model colour paints... But I can't find any retailer in Australia! Does anyone happen to know one?

 

[panzerace007]

Ok, reading your posts about model air and how it can be LOTS more expensive because you get less paint, mabye i'll scope out some model colour paints... But I can't find any retailer in Australia! Does anyone happen to know one?

Here ya' go bro. Eureka Miniatures - http://eurekamin.com.au/index.php?cPath=679

- http://www.bnamodelworld.com/tools-paints/paints-accessories/vallejo-acrylic - WoW ! This is a Cool lookin' place - BNA Model World !

http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/esp/distribucion.html - Check this out. Vallejo's site has a Distributor's page.

I live in th U.S. & don't really know where the Stores are Down Under & where exactly you live ... but hopefully one of these is Close to ya' !!

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Its not that you get less paint, it is just that the Model Air is already pre-thinned, and the Model Color, Panzer Aces and Game Color aren't, thus if you thin them, you potentially get more thinned paint, but they all come in a 17ml bottle.

As well, there are colors that are only available in the Model Air line, and there is the convenience factor in that you don't have to thin your paint out, just drop it in your airbrush and go.

 

[spud]

im going to change over to the Vallejo line and im wondering would i be just better off to get the Panzer aces set because im 99.9999% armor with the odd aircraft.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Depends on what kind of armor, as there are many colors in the Model Color line geared towards armor as well. If I were you, I would just pick and choose between both the Panzer Aces and Model Color lines for your colors. Panzer Aces is only 48 colors, many of them designed for uniforms, Model color is about 212 colors, everything from white to black and all points in between.

One set that you might be interested in is the Vallejo Military Colors set, 72 colors, all geared towards military colors.

72 colors, 2 Mediums, and 3 Toray brushes in a handy suitcase style box.



Set includes:

801 Brass
805 German Orange
816 Luftwaffe Uniform
819 Iraqui Sand
821 German Camo Beige
822 German Camo Black Brown
823 Luftwaffe Camo Green
824 German Camo Orange
825 German Camo Pale Blue
830 German Field Grey
833 German Camo Bright
837 Pale Sand
845 Sunny Skintone
847 Dark Sand
865 Oily Steel
863 Gunmetal Grey
866 Grey Green
867 Dark Blue Grey
868 Dark Sea Green
871 Leather Brown
872 Chocolate Brown
873 US Field Drab
874 USA Tan Earth
875 Beige Brown
876 Brown Sand
878 Old Gold
880 Khaki Grey
883 Silver Grey
884 Stone Grey
886 Green Grey
887 Brown Violet
888 Olive Grey
889 USA Olive Drabe
890 Reflective Green
891 Intermediate Green
892 Yellow Olive
893 USA Dark Green
894 Russian Green
896 German Camo Extra Dark Green
897 Bronze Green
898 Dark Sea Blue
899 Dark Prussian Blue
903 Intermediate Blue
904 Dark Blue Grey
907 Pale Grey Blue
912 Tan Yellow
916 Sand Yellow
920 German Uniform Green
921 English Uniform
922 Uniform Green
923 Japanese Uniform WWII
924 Russian Uniform Green
926 Deep Red
940 Saddle Brown
950 Flat Black
951 Flat White
964 Field Blue
975 Military Green
976 Buff
977 Desert Yellow
978 Dark Yellow
979 German Camo Dark Green
980 Black Green
983 Flat Earth
984 Flat Brown
985 Hull Red
986 Deck Tan
988 Khaki
989 Sky Grey
991 Dark Sea Grey
992 Neutral Grey
995 German Grey


Gives a great start....but isn't cheap, my price on it is about $250CDN (plus shipping not sure what the shipping would be from me to you for it, but likely not cheap either) Works out to slightly cheaper per bottle than buying the paint separately, plus you get 3 really good brushes with it, which is likely worth about $15-$25 alone.

 

[13aceofspades13]

whats there color line for aircraft? do they have one?

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

They have a couple of sets in their Air Range, one for British WWII aircraft and one for German WWII aircraft.

British

RLM

Both are 16 color sets, but they also have smaller 8 colors sets as well.

 

[Eastrock]

Its not that you get less paint, it is just that the Model Air is already pre-thinned, and the Model Color, Panzer Aces and Game Color aren't, thus if you thin them, you potentially get more thinned paint, but they all come in a 17ml bottle.

As well, there are colors that are only available in the Model Air line, and there is the convenience factor in that you don't have to thin your paint out, just drop it in your airbrush and go.

Hi Scott, so you mean its possible for model color to be airbrushed with right amount of vallejo thinner and retarder? I'm a bit apprehensive since most review said it will clog the AB, I'm using Tamiya Basic Sprayworks.

Thanks

 

[ScaleModelMadman]

so you mean its possible for model color to be airbrushed with right amount of vallejo thinner and retarder?

I do it all the time, I don't like the Model Air line.

I'm a bit apprehensive since most review said it will clog the AB

Any chance at a link or two of these reviews? I'm very curious.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Honestly?

You can take any brand of paint, house paint, craft paint, car paint, etc and thin it down for airbrushing if you have enough thinner and patients for trail and error.

I use Model color all the time through the airbrush, and works fine as long as it is thinned properly. Same as Ken (ScaleModelMadman), does the same. Vallejo thinner and a touch of retarder, works fantastic.


EDIT: LOL...seems Ken and I replied at the same time.